![]() ![]() The increasing use of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook as news sources has reframed perceptions of what social media can be. ![]() There’s clearly significant scope to target this age group with quality content marketing via social media – but the caveat is that most of us will need to aim for quality over quantity if our content is to embody the quality journalism that many adults are now seeking on social, as well as in print. This presents marketers with an opportunity on one hand and a challenge on the other. Facebook can lay claim to the highest proportion of users browsing for news – 45%. The Pew Research Centre found that 40% of those aged 30-49 use social media as a news source, compared with 26% of 50-to-64-year-olds and just 25% of those aged 18-29. Of the many points to be made on how thirty- and forty-somethings are using social media, perhaps the most striking – and surely the most topical – is that those aged between thirty and forty-nine are easily the most likely to get their news from social media. The patronage of corporate decision-makers has contributed to LinkedIn’s emergence as perhaps the single most important platform for social selling. Who could have predicted, ten years ago, that by 2018 the majority of those aged 50-64 would have a social media profile? As is stands, around 65% of people in this age group have a Facebook profile, whilst significant minorities are also signed up to other social media like LinkedIn (24%) and Instagram (21%)Īmongst this group is a notable concentration of high-ranking professionals who use the business-oriented social network, LinkedIn (24% of the age group have a profile). Key topics for older social users are health and community. Senior Facebook users have generally demonstrated a tendency towards using the platform primarily to network and participate in conversations in contrast with the youngest users, many of whom are more interested in identity-forming activities like posting selfies. From a short-term perspective, this tells us that Facebook is the channel to focus on when it comes to marketing to older people – though that could all change in the space of a few years. Whilst younger age groups are showing a tendency towards using a wider variety of social media, notably including Instagram and Snapchat, the overwhelming majority of social users over the age of 65 solely use Facebook (the Pew Research Centre found that 41% of over 65s are currently using Facebook, with LinkedIn a distant second on 9%). ![]() Even if you’re just a year or two behind the curve, it would still be easy to misgauge this age group’s value and influence. By 2018, just seven years later, Pew reported that this figure had risen to 37%. There’s a pretty good reason why some marketers make this oversight – according to a study from the Pew Research Centre*, social media account ownership amongst over 65s was down at 12% as recently as 2011. We’re making a point of starting this guide with the over 65s age group – because amongst some social media marketers there remains an unfortunate tendency to under-value older audiences. We’re going to try to give you a better understanding of how people of different ages use social, and we’ll also offer some pointers on how to turn your understanding into a strategic advantage. In this article, we’re going to shine a light on one crucial pillar of the digital world – social media – as it looks too different age groups. You need to know how different demographics use digital, and how they experience it. To market towards multiple demographics takes great powers of empathy – and a deep knowledge of how different types of people interact with the digital world. Click here to visit our updated version of this blog, exploring the way different age groups use social media in 2023. Edit: The social media landscape is constantly changing, and so is the way people use it. ![]()
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